IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v81y2025ics1544612325007470.html

Green finance innovation and corporate resilience: Evidence from China's reform zones

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Jiahui
  • Wang, Si
  • Xu, Lei

Abstract

Green finance innovation policies have significantly enhanced corporate resilience in China’s reform pilot zones. Based on a multi-period difference-in-differences approach using firm-level data from 2011 to 2021, the analysis reveals heterogeneous effects across regions, industries, and firm characteristics. Mechanism results indicate that digital transformation, improved innovation capacity, and alleviated financing constraints are key drivers. Some effects, such as those related to industrial robot adoption, appear with a time lag. These findings provide policy-relevant insights into how green finance fosters firm adaptability and supports long-term sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Jiahui & Wang, Si & Xu, Lei, 2025. "Green finance innovation and corporate resilience: Evidence from China's reform zones," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325007470
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107488
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325007470
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.107488?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Fei & Ren, Yuheng, 2024. "Harnessing the green frontier: The impact of green finance reform and digitalization on corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Du, Yanan & Wang, Qingxi & Zhou, Jianping, 2023. "How does digital inclusive finance affect economic resilience: Evidence from 285 cities in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Dong Wang & Shengli Chen, 2022. "RETRACTED: Digital Transformation and Enterprise Resilience: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Varadarajan, Rajan, 2023. "Resource advantage theory, resource based theory, and theory of multimarket competition: Does multimarket rivalry restrain firms from leveraging resource Advantages?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Li, Ziwei & Wang, Xingyu & Wu, Zhuang, 2024. "Can green finance reform and innovation policies promote corporate carbon performance?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    6. Wang, Hainan & Liu, Fengshuo, 2024. "Digital finance and enterprise innovation efficiency: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Qin, Lu & Aziz, Ghazala & Hussan, Muhammad Wasim & Qadeer, Afifa & Sarwar, Suleman, 2024. "Empirical evidence of fintech and green environment: Using the green finance as a mediating variable," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 33-49.
    8. Li, Shibin & Wang, Qian, 2023. "Green finance policy and digital transformation of heavily polluting firms: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    9. Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana & Pratima Bansal, 2016. "The long-term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1615-1631, August.
    10. He, Bo & Jie, Wen & He, Haihong & Alsubih, Majed & Arnone, Gioia & Makhmudov, Samariddin, 2024. "From resources to resilience: How green innovation, fintech and natural resources shape sustainability in OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Xiong, Yuyu & Dai, Li, 2023. "Does green finance investment impact on sustainable development: Role of technological innovation and renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 342-349.
    12. D’Orazio, Paola & Popoyan, Lilit, 2019. "Fostering green investments and tackling climate-related financial risks: Which role for macroprudential policies?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 25-37.
    13. Cao, Zhenzi & Tao, Ling, 2023. "Green finance and economic resilience: Investigating the nexus with natural resources through econometric analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 929-940.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Jianbo & Niu, Dayong & Kang, Jing, 2025. "Can national industrial investment funds enhance enterprise resilience?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PC).
    2. Li, Xintian & Yong, Hui, 2025. "The impact of green finance on the environmental performance of industrial enterprises: The moderating role of digital transformation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PG).
    3. Zhang, Yishu & Feng, Jinyu, 2025. "How FinTech affects corporate resilience: From the perspective of mismatch correction," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PC).
    4. Cao, Fuzhen & An, Yi & Xie, Wei, 2025. "Chinese exchange rate policy uncertainty, foreign exchange hedging, and corporate resilience," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PG).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ziqian Zhao & Decai Tang & Jiannan Li, 2025. "Driving role of digital finance on economic resilience: threshold effects of industrial structure upgrading and social security," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 1-43, December.
    2. Zhou, Jie & Yang, Siyu, 2025. "Common prosperity in the era of technological transformation: Digital inclusive finance, technological progress, and the income distribution of migrant workers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Xiao, Anran & Xu, Zeshui & Skare, Marinko & Xiao, JingLin & Qin, Yong, 2024. "Unlocking the potential of FinTech: A pathway to sustainable resource management in the EU," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Han, Linzhi & Li, Jiawen, 2025. "Does green finance reform promote corporate carbon emission reduction? Evidence from China's green finance reform and innovation pilot zones," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 2091-2111.
    5. Liu, Xiaorui & Guo, Wen, 2025. "Dynamic impact of green finance on renewable energy development: Based on scale, structure, and efficiency perspectives," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    6. Jiang, Miaoyi & Ma, Jun, 2025. "Policy, investment, and growth: How green finance drives corporate sustainable development?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Omri, Henda & Jarraya, Bilel & Kahia, Montassar, 2025. "Green finance for achieving environmental sustainability in G7 countries: Effects and transmission channels," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Liu, Juntao & Liu, Haitao, 2024. "Study on the spatiotemporal evolution of coupled and coordinated digital economic resilience and efficiency," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 876-888.
    9. Yang, Jinxuan & Hui, Ning, 2024. "How digital finance affects the sustainability of corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Wang, Shaohui & Yong, Yanlan & Liu, Xizhang & Wang, Yunliang, 2024. "How Fintech mitigates credit mismatches to promote green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    11. Yujia Chen & Fuqiang Wu & Guihong Hua, 2026. "Do Financial Structural Characteristics Affect Economic Resilience?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 1089-1107, January.
    12. Pham Quang Huy & Vu Kien Phuc, 2025. "Changing times: does the critical success factors boosting green transition of SMEs remain unchanged?," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-32, December.
    13. Zhang, Xu & Wang, Pengmian & Xu, Qiuxiang, 2024. "Corporate environmental governance under the coordination of fiscal and financial policies: The case of green credit subsidy policy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Aziz Barhmi & Omar Hajaji, 2023. "Multidisciplinary Approach to Supply Chain Resilience: Conceptualization and Scale Development," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(5), pages 43-69.
    15. Lamperti, Francesco & Bosetti, Valentina & Roventini, Andrea & Tavoni, Massimo & Treibich, Tania, 2021. "Three green financial policies to address climate risks," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Zhou, Yuanxiang & Liu, Huayan & Chen, Chan & Ma, Yingqi, 2025. "The impact of digital inclusive finance on green economic efficiency: Pathways to inclusive sustainability," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Massimiliano Carlo Pietro Rizzati & Emanuele Ciola & Enrico Turco & Davide Bazzana & Sergio Vergalli, 2025. "Beyond Green Preferences: Demand-side and Supply-side Drivers in the Low-Carbon Transition," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 88(5), pages 1239-1295, May.
    18. Jingsi Zhang & Liangqun Qi, 2021. "Crisis Preparedness of Healthcare Manufacturing Firms during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Digitalization and Servitization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-23, May.
    19. Shikha Daga & Kiran Yadav & Pardeep Singh & Alexander Sorokin, 2026. "Green finance perspectives and future projections: a comprehensive analysis," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 1-31, February.
    20. Tine Buyl & Thomas Gehrig & Jonas Schreyögg & Andreas Wieland, 2022. "Resilience: A Critical Appraisal of the State of Research for Business and Society," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 453-463, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325007470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.